First Address of the Whig Central Committee of Vigilance of Fauquier County, Virginia. (Appendix).
[Washington]: [Madisonian Print], (1840). 11 pp. 8vo. Plain paper wrappers. Removed, wrappers foxed, but still a very good copy. Sabin 23930 (also see Sabin 78721 and Sabin 103287). Item #27663
Appendix to "[Second] Address of the Central Committee of Fauquier, to the People of that County, on the Army Bill." There were three printings, the first two with the second address and the last, separately (this copy is the appendix -the "First Address"- only from a copy containing both addresses). Robert Eden Scott, writing for the recently coalescing Whig party, attacked Martin Van Buren and his Secretary of War, Joel R. Poinsett,. for the scheme to raise a standing army via a conscripted militia. Under the plan, the regular army each year would call out and rigorously drill from the state militia rolls an active force of one hundred thousand men, who would then be available for rapid mobilization. Though nearly every president since Washington has suggested something similar, the Whigs set off an uproar, and Van Buren's disavowal was too little and too late in the 1840 campaign. Harrison won the election. Scarce. OCLC shows only a single copy.
Price: $75.00